Och-Ziff Capital Management, one of the world’s largest hedge fund firms, has hired Matt Todd from rival Stark Investments, where he was head of sales for Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Todd will join the London office of the $24.6bn (€18bn) manager in early summer.

Todd spent three years at Stark, which has its headquarters in Milwaukee. The firm’s assets fell by about 30% in 2009 to $6bn, according to Absolute Return + Alpha magazine.

Och-Ziff, based in New York, has boosted assets in every month since July. It took in $600m during February alone, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

All of the company’s funds were up by double digits last year except one dedicated to special investments, which was up 8.3%.

Sasha Jensen, head of alternative fund distribution at search firm Kinsey Allen International, said hiring Todd reflected a wider trend. She said: “US managers are increasing their presence in Europe and firms are generally beefing up their sales teams as markets normalise.”

Hedge funds have been actively hiring in the past few months, with London offices of US managers such as Citadel Investment Corporation, SAC Advisors and Moore Capital all adding investment and marketing staffers.

Todd could not be reached for comment. Cam Stephenson, director of communications at Stark, did not respond to requests for comment. Och-Ziff declined to comment.